


Second Chances: Puzzling it Out

by callboxkat



Series: Second Chances [4]
Category: Sanders Sides, Sanders Sides (Web Series), Thomas Sanders, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Homeless, Alternate Universe - Human, Gen, Happy Ending, Homelessness, Logan is Talented at puzzles, M/M, Who's she?, and goes off about rutabagas, because that's what's happening here, six month hiatus?, when did this turn into a coffee shop au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 17:25:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19339132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callboxkat/pseuds/callboxkat
Summary: Less than a month has passed since Roman, a homeless man just trying to get through life, was found digging through a trashcan by Logan, a former high school rival. His life has been turning around since then, and tomorrow is his first day working at the Sanders Café. So, naturally, Roman is freaking out.





	Second Chances: Puzzling it Out

Up until very recently, Roman had been a homeless man.

He’d been on his own for some time, staying in a homeless shelter in the city he lived in. It hadn’t been great—certainly not luxurious—but he had had somewhere to stay. Or at least, he had until just over a month ago, when the shelter had filled up and he had been forced out onto the streets. After that, he had started making do with sleeping in slightly less comfortable accommodations: the local park.

Only a week later, twenty-seven days ago, Roman had been effectively banned from the park he had been staying in. A less than friendly police officer had forced him to leave on the grounds that he was disturbing the peace—even though it had been the middle of the night at the time. He had been left with little choice but to simply wander the streets after that, with nowhere to go and no one willing to help him.

Then, twenty days ago, Logan—a former high school rival of Roman’s who had certainly _not_ been his friend—had found him digging through his trashcan. To Roman’s shock and embarrassment, Logan had invited him in for some food. That had somehow turned into him being invited to stay at his home, at least until Roman found a job and somewhere else to live. Logan’s boyfriend, Patton, had been welcoming and even excited at the prospect; but Logan’s sister, Val, had been… less eager, suffice to say. She had actually moved out, going to stay with her friend Dahlia to wait until her brother wised up and kicked the formerly homeless man back out onto the streets.

In the meantime, Roman had settled in as best he could and started looking for a job. After a little more than a week of this, eleven days ago, Roman had finally landed a job interview. It was for a position working for a friend of a friend of Patton’s who managed a coffee shop.

Eight days ago, the same day as Roman’s interview, Val had finally agreed to having dinner with the family, giving Roman a chance to prove himself to her. It had gone well, and one week ago, Val had moved back in with the family. The very next day, Roman had gotten a job offer.

And tomorrow? Tomorrow was Roman’s first day as a barista at the Sanders Café.

So, naturally, Roman was freaking out.

He was sitting on the couch—the very same couch he’d very dignifiedly passed out on the first time Logan invited him inside—rocking forwards and backwards just slightly, his hands rubbing into his thighs. The television was on, but it was nearly muted, and Roman could honestly say that he had no idea what was playing. He didn’t know how long he sat there like that, silently panicking about how it was all going to go wrong, before Patton was suddenly there, sitting down next to him.

“What’s eatin’ ya, kiddo?” he asked, putting a hand on Roman’s shoulder. Roman’s repeated motions stopped immediately.

“It’s… nothing.”

“If it’s nothing, why do you look so upset?”

Roman blew air out through his nose. “It doesn’t matter, it’s just—I’m nervous, okay? It’s like before a performance, just pre-show jitters is all….”

“Well, you start your new job tomorrow! That’s exciting! But I can see why it would make you nervous, too.”

“I just….” He swallowed hard. “I don’t want to blow it. You and Logan have been so nice to me, and I want to pay you guys back, but if this doesn’t work out then I can’t do that and you’ll both be so disappointed and then Val will make you kick me out—.” _And I’ll be alone again._

“Woah, woah, woah,” Patton interrupted, squeezing Roman’s shoulder tightly. “Let’s slow down, there. Breathe, Roman. Where’s this coming from all of a sudden?”

Roman didn’t look at him, for this really wasn’t sudden at all. Patton’s gaze softened in realization; but then he sat up straighter, a fire in his eyes.

“Look at me.”

Roman swallowed. After a second, he lifted his gaze to meet Patton’s eyes.

“You are going to be just fine. Here’s what’s going to happen: You’re going to go to your job tomorrow, and you’re going to do your best, and _it will be good enough_. You aren’t going to blow it. And you know what? Even if this job doesn’t work out, you’re not going _anywhere_. You are going to stay right here, with me and Logan and Val, because we want you here, and because you deserve to be happy.” Patton looked suddenly shy. “At least, as long as you want to stay here with us.”

Roman swallowed. “I really do,” he whispered. He hadn’t really meant to say that out loud. Realizing what he’d done, he felt his face begin to burn.

Patton just hugged him. “Then you will.”

Roman sighed.

“Feeling any better?”

“Immensely. Thank you, Patton.”

“Of course, kiddo. If you ever want to talk, you can always come to little ol’ me.” Patton pulled back to let him get up if he wanted, but Roman made no move to do so.

“I, um, I really appreciate what you guys are doing for me.” He didn’t say that enough, Roman felt, as often as he did say it.

“I know,” Patton said gently. “It’s really not a bother.”

“I guess I didn’t really give Logan much of a choice,” Roman admitted, laughing slightly. “Showing up like that. I was quite a mess. Probably would’ve passed out on the sidewalk if he hadn’t let me in.”

“Well… he didn’t _have_ to help,” Patton shrugged. “Letting you stay wasn’t just out of some moral obligation or whatever. He has a heart; it’s just that he seems a bit stiff sometimes to people who don’t know him as well as I do.”

“Oh—I know, Pat, of course. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s okay. I know you two didn’t used to get along so well.”

Roman hesitated. Patton certainly wasn’t wrong about that. Finally, he cleared his throat.

“He said he let me stay because of you, actually.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. He said that he saw me and was reminded of you. I don’t know why, exactly; I’m certainly not the same… soft little puffball you are,” Roman said, smiling uncertainly. He hoped Patton wouldn’t be offended by that assessment of his character. Thankfully, Patton didn’t seem to mind.

There was a short pause.

“I used to be homeless,” Patton said quietly. “As a teenager.”

“I know,” Roman admitted. “Logan told me.”

Patton nodded. “I figured. How much did he tell you?”

“Not a lot,” he was quick to assure. “Just that you were, you know, and some stuff about that lady who helped you and your mom.”

Patton sighed, looking thoughtful. “It was hard,” he admitted. “We were in a shelter most of the time, but it was still hard. For a while I thought they were going to try to take me away from her. That was scary.”

Roman nodded understandingly.

“We made it through, though. Both of us did,” he continued, smiling at Roman. “And now here we are.”

“Here we are,” Roman couldn’t help but agree.

“Hey, Ro, since we’re on the topic already… Can I ask you something?” Patton asked. The corner of his mouth quirked upwards briefly. “Another thing, I mean.”

“Um… I suppose so.”

“It’s okay if you don’t want to answer, kiddo. I don’t mind.” He took a breath. “But… how did you become homeless? Logan said that you were some kind of big theatre star in high school, that you were talking about a big scholarship you’d gotten from some fancy school; and then you just disappeared. I’m just a bit confused about what happened, if that’s okay?”

As soon as Roman realized what Patton was going to ask, a cold feeling spread through him. He was silent for a long time. He wasn’t sure that he really wanted to get into all of that right now. Not only did the thought of sharing that make him hesitate, but he also wasn’t sure how he felt about Logan talking about his high school self with Patton; he wasn’t that guy anymore, not really. He supposed it made sense that Patton would want to know more about the random homeless guy who’d started living with him, to be sure they hadn’t let in some criminal or amoral parasite or some other unsavory ne’er-do-well; and perhaps Patton and Logan especially had a right to know what had happened; but the idea still made him uncomfortable. Was it just because he didn’t like being talked about behind his back? Was he bitter that things didn’t turn out how they were supposed to? Or was it just out of regret for his mistakes, in what had happened and in how he had treated Logan?

The silence stretched on.

“Do I have to talk about it right now?” he finally asked, his voice cracking.

“Nope! We can drop it right now,” Patton said, to Roman’s surprise. “Forget I asked.” He rubbed Roman’s shoulder reassuringly. “How about we do something else? Just sitting here worrying about tomorrow won’t help anything.”

Roman smiled in relief.

…

They heard the door opening about an hour later. The clacking footsteps on the floor told Roman that the newcomer was Val, unless Logan had recently taken up wearing heels.

“Hi, Val!” Patton called out, having made the same deduction, barely breaking focus to do so as he sifted through a pile of bits of cardboard.

He and Roman were sitting on either side of the coffee table, working on a large jigsaw puzzle. Most of the edges were in place, as well as a few clusters of the middle.

“Hello,” Valerie said, stepping into the room. She didn’t advance much past the doorway. “What puzzle is that?”

“It’s called…” Roman picked up the box, “Raining Cats and Dogs.”

“Sounds accurate,” Val commented, studying what they had completed so far.

She and Roman had been getting along more amicably lately, although things were still rather awkward. Roman could tell that she was trying, though; and it wasn’t as if he didn’t understand why she hadn’t wanted him in her house. It meant a lot to him that she was giving him a chance.

But actually talking to her? That was still difficult.

“How was work?” Patton asked. He snapped a puzzle piece into place, then looked up at her with a smile.

“It was fine—,” she started to say, only to be cut off as Patton hopped up and hugged her. She sighed, patting his back a couple of times. She glanced towards Roman, still in Patton’s arms. After a second, she asked, “You start your job tomorrow, right?”

Roman’s little smile slipped slightly. “Yeah.”

“Well, good luck.”

Patton pulled back. “He’s gonna do great, I know it.”

Roman rubbed the back of his neck.

Patton clapped his hands together. “Anyway, should we start dinner, soon? Logan should be home any minute.”

“I’ll help,” Roman said immediately, getting to his feet. Val glanced at him, but she just shrugged and walked back towards the kitchen with Patton. Roman followed after.

They got started on dinner, which consisted of roasted red potatoes and baked chicken. Patton didn’t eat meat, so they made a vegetarian version for him.

“So, do you and Logan do puzzles often?” Roman asked as he cut the last few potatoes.

Val, who had just put the chicken in the oven, snorted. Roman paused, confused.

Patton let out a giggle. “Actually, Logan’s not allowed to help me with puzzles.”

Roman, of course, only became more confused at this response. “Why not?” he asked, returning to his potatoes.

“You’ve never seen him do a puzzle,” Val guessed. She sounded amused.

“…No? Am I missing something here?”

Patton was grinning. “We _have_ to make Logan do one when he gets back.”

“Well, clearly,” Val agreed. She had a mischievous glint in her eyes that Roman had never seen before.

Roman raised an eyebrow, regarding them both suspiciously. _What’s going on?_ he wondered. _Should I be worried about this?_

Before he could ask, the door opened, catching everyone’s attention. That had to have been Logan arriving. Patton bounced off to greet his boyfriend first. Val turned back to the oven, and Roman grabbed the roll of aluminum foil to cover the dish of potatoes with.

Patton and Logan came back arm-in-arm, Logan’s cheeks slightly flushed, and Patton looking very pleased with himself.

“Thank you all for starting dinner,” Logan said, turning to hug his sister. He offered Roman a polite nod. “Work kept me late.”

“What happened?” Val asked. “Anything interesting?”

Logan sighed a world-weary sigh. “There was this woman—a “Karen”, my colleague called her, if I remember correctly—She wanted every single book we had about the ‘rudabagel’.” He shook his head, seeming mystified. “She was very resistant when I suggested that she might have been thinking about the rutabaga, but my colleague eventually got her to finally accept a book on root vegetables, I believe, and a baking cookbook, as a compromise.”

“I’d like to see her face when her ‘rudabagel’ isn’t there,” Val commented.

“What even _is_ a rutabaga?” Roman asked.

Logan sighed again, and Patton covered his mouth to stifle his giggles.

…

They sat down together for dinner. Roman, Logan, and Val all enjoyed their chicken. Roman looked suspiciously at the tofu-based concoction that had replaced it for Patton’s main dish, like he expected it to be poisonous or some kind of wet cardboard masquerading as food, but Patton seemed pretty happy with it; so it was probably fine.

The potatoes had turned out pretty well, if Roman did say so himself. Granted, roasting some potatoes in the oven was pretty simple, but he’d cut and seasoned them all! Let him live. Roman speared one of them on his fork.

“Were you serious?”

Roman looked up, confused, to see Logan regarding him thoughtfully.

“What?”

“About the rutabaga. Were you seriously asking what it is? I surmised that it was likely a joke, but I also frown upon denying anyone seeking knowledge.”

“Oh—oh, uh,” Roman stammered, a bit taken aback. “It was mostly a joke, I suppose. I know it’s a vegetable, right? But it’s not like I’ve ever seen one, that I know of.”

“In that case,” Logan said, straightening his tie; and Roman realized that that was definitely the Teacher Voice that Logan had used to use as the dramaturg of their theater productions in high school, “allow me to describe it to you.” Oh no. Roman didn’t sign up for this. But it was too late: Logan’s switch had officially been flipped to Teacher Mode.

“The rutabaga is a root vegetable with origins in Scandinavia and Russia, resulting from a cross between the turnip and the cabbage—”

“Really?” Val wondered aloud. “Why would you cross those in the first place? You don’t even eat the same part of the plant.”

“Please do not interrupt,” Logan requested.

Val smirked and mimed locking her mouth shut and throwing away the key. Patton pretended to fumble to catch it, grinning.

“As I was saying,” Logan said, “The rutabaga is a cross between the turnip and the cabbage plant, most likely accidental or spontaneous.”

Val nodded, her question answered.

“For many years, the rutabaga was often carved in much the same way we would carve a pumpkin for Halloween nowadays. In some regions it is also called the ‘swede’, the ‘neep’, or my personal favorite, the ‘snagger’. Although, interestingly, the name ‘rutabaga’ comes from Swedish, literally meaning ‘root lump’. It was introduced—"

“Okay, honey,” Patton said, pawing in Logan’s direction. “I think that’s enough for now. Your dinner’ll get cold.”

Logan broke off, blinking. “Right,” he said, looking down at his chicken and potatoes. “Apologies for the tangent.”

“Don’t worry about it, nerd,” Roman assured, grinning. He hadn’t seen Logan go full-on-nerd in years. Usually it was annoying, but he had to admit now that it was rather funny, too.

“You can tell me more about it later, okay?” Patton assured his boyfriend. Logan, still looking at his plate, smiled slightly. It was, objectively speaking, adorable. (Roman, however, would have denied this to his dying day.)

“Why do you even know all that stuff? You’re not a botanist,” Roman asked.

“Well,” Logan admitted thoughtfully. “I _may_ have done some quick reading of my own, just as a refresher out of spite for the ignorance of that ‘Karen’ today.” He did actual finger quotes around the name ‘Karen’.

 _Learning out of spite just might be the most ‘Logan’ thing I’ve ever heard_ , Roman thought, amused. He didn’t say that, though, and instead just shook his head and went back to his food.

 …

By the time dinner was over, Roman had almost forgotten about the plan to have Logan do a puzzle, but as soon as Logan got up to clear his plate, Patton started bouncing in his seat.

“Oh! Oh—sweetie, before I forget. Roman hasn’t seen you do a puzzle before! You have to do one tonight, so he can see.”

Logan paused, then turned to look in Roman’s direction, who froze, having been about to put a chunk of chicken in his mouth. There was a glint in Logan’s eye. “Do I, now?”

And so, five minutes later, Roman found himself sitting on the living room floor along with Logan and Val, the sofa and coffee table pushed off to the side. Roman was a bit surprised that Logan had agreed to sit on the floor—germs and all—but he supposed that if anyone’s floor was clean, it would be Logan’s. He vacuumed every day. _Every day_. You could probably eat off of the carpet, assuming Logan didn’t kill you for getting food on it.

Patton came in with a new puzzle box—1000 pieces, he noticed, twice that of Patton’s and Roman’s puzzle—and a stopwatch in hand. He handed the cover of the box to Logan, who studied the design for about two minutes.

He handed it back with a nod, ready.

Patton turned and grinned at Roman, looking almost manic with glee. Roman felt his eyebrows shoot up. Patton’s grin only widened as he hit the ‘start’ button on the timer and dumped all of the puzzle pieces on the floor in a cascade of colors.

…

Twenty-seven minutes and fifteen seconds.

Logan put together a 1000-piece puzzle in _twenty-seven minutes and fifteen seconds_.

At first, Roman hadn’t seen what the big deal was. So, Logan had started flipping over all the pieces so that they were right side up, so what? That was what everyone did—either that or collect all the edge pieces. He didn’t understand the grins on Patton’s and Val’s faces as they settled near him to watch the show, or the glint in Logan’s eyes.

But then Logan, upon having all the pieces set out and right side up, started assembling the puzzle. He moved rapid-fire, snatching up pieces and snapping them into place. Watching him, Roman’s mouth fell open. He started in one corner, quickly working his way up the sides, through the center, and to the opposite corner. Like he could just visualize where all of the pieces went. He even made it look _easy_ ; the nerd hadn’t looked rushed at all. Roman wondered how fast he could go when he really was trying to put it together as fast as he could. Patton was bouncing up and down the whole time, cheering on his boyfriend. Val also looked highly amused, but she was clearly long used to these kinds of antics.

When the puzzle was finished, Patton let out a loud cheer and announced how much time had passed. Val just smiled, and Logan sat back, straightening his tie. Everyone looked at Roman.

Roman sat in a stunned silence for a solid minute after Patton read out the time.

“Um, yeah,” he finally squeaked. “I can see why you don’t let him do puzzles with you.”

…

Patton and Roman sat together on one side of the coffee table, finishing their own puzzle at what seemed like a glacial pace compared to Logan’ earlier display. It was getting rather late, and Roman found himself yawning. Patton, at his side, kept rubbing at his eyes as he picked through the remaining pieces.

“You’re really good at distracting people,” Roman mumbled, snapping a piece into place. A cartoon dalmatian took shape, grinning up at them as it swung down from the sky with a red umbrella.

Patton smiled slightly, humming. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Right… Thanks anyway.”

Patton paused to check the time on his phone. “We should probably go to bed soon,” he said.

“We only have like a dozen more pieces,” Roman pointed out. Truthfully, they had more like twenty; but this close to the end of the puzzle, that wasn’t a lot. They were putting them in place pretty quickly.

“Well… okay. We’ll finish the puzzle and _then,_ bed! Can’t have you falling asleep at work tomorrow morning, can we?”

“Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of coffee around to wake me back up,” Roman joked.

…

Roman was really glad that Logan had shown him how to work the alarm clock in the guest room. There was no way that he would have woken up in time for his 6am shift without it.

Even with the alarm clock, he very nearly fell back asleep; but he caught himself just in time and forced himself to get up. _That was close,_ he thought, mildly horrified. Unfortunately, if he _had_ fallen asleep, no one would have known until at least an hour later, when Logan would get up. Patton, who had a few weeks off before his classes resumed, had offered to drive him to work today; but Roman could walk the distance pretty easily; and he didn’t want to make Patton get up so early just for that. Patton hadn’t seemed happy about it, based on his impressive pouty face, but he’d respected Roman’s wishes.

So Roman was on his own to get himself to work this morning.

Roman showered, brushed his teeth, got dressed for the day, and grabbed a banana (it had a post-it note with a poorly drawn heart stuck to it, probably from Patton). Within fifteen minutes, he was ready to walk out the door. Logan’s second spare house key was in his pocket along with a slip of paper with Logan’s and Patton’s cell numbers written on it, just in case Roman needed to contact them. Not that Roman actually had a phone (his had stopped working some time ago and hadn’t had service anyway); but they assumed that there would be one he could use at the café.

Roman set a brisk pace and reached the Sanders Café in only fifteen minutes. He must have been going pretty fast, since he’d expected to get there in twenty. Probably nervous energy. Nervous _excitement_ , he corrected himself silently.

As he approached the building, Roman could see a figure moving within the café itself. He opened the door that he’d been told would be unlocked, pleased to find that this was indeed the case—he’d have hated to make a fool out of himself right off the bat by trying to open a locked door. Roman stepped inside and straightened his back, striding forwards with his most charming smile.

“Ah, hello! I’m Roman; I’m the new hire starting today,” he announced with a confidence he did not quite feel, but which he would readily fake.

The other worker jumped slightly, nearly dropping the broom he held in his hands. They had probably not expected such a grand entrance, poor thing. They regained their composure and turned to face Roman, leaning casually on the broom handle.

“Oh,” he simply said, as if Roman were an unexpected but not necessarily welcome arrival, although he had surely known that Roman was coming. Roman looked the figure in front of him up and down, admittedly a little surprised himself.

The young man in front of him looked like he had never moved past his middle school emo phase. He was incredibly pale, his makeup and dark clothes only accentuating this fact. Most of his hair was dyed black, the bangs a pastel purple. He had half-centimeter black gauges in his earlobes, in addition to various other piercings in his nose, eyebrow, and the cartilage of one ear. He had on a black long-sleeve shirt under his uniform shirt even in summer, and when he walked around to the other side of the counter, Roman saw that he had on ripped-up black jeans, combat boots, and silver-painted fingernails. If Roman had to guess, he’d say he was about Patton’s age. Maybe a little younger. It was hard to tell, what with all the makeup.

The man in question raised an eyebrow at Roman, who realized with a jolt that he had definitely been staring. No one had the right to look _that_ sassy just by raising an eyebrow, but this man did it with ease.

What a great way to start his new job.

“So, you must be Roman,” the young man drawled, as if Roman hadn’t already introduced himself. He didn’t offer his own name, Roman noticed. “Come on, I’ve got your uniform back here.” He turned and headed into the back room, waving lackadaisically for Roman to follow. Roman did, after a short hesitation. Hopefully this Emo Nightmare wasn’t trying to lure him into some kind of dungeon back there. Was this really who he was going to be working with?

In the back room, the young man put the broom away and then thrust a bundle of fabric into his hands. Roman shook it out and held up the uniform shirt quizzically. It looked a couple of sizes too big.

“Can I get this in a smaller size?” he asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

“Nope,” his young coworker—Terrence, his name tag said—answered, popping the ‘p’. “Don’t worry, nobody lasts long here anyway.”

What the heck was _that_ supposed to mean?

Terrence(?) flicked something else at Roman, who caught it against his chest. “Here’s your fancy new name tag. Don’t lose it, or I’ll steal it for my collection. No returns or exchanges.”

What?

Roman was getting more and more confused by the minute. “Is Bradley here?” he asked.

“Dude, Bradley comes here like once a month, if that. He’s got like ten of these cafés across the state. He does the interviews, but that’s about it. He prefers his cushy office.”

“So, what, we don’t have a manager?”

“Bradley’s the _owner_. Our _manager_ is Thomas. He’ll probably show up later to meet you, but he usually doesn’t come in on Mondays unless he has to.”

“Oh—okay.”

Terrence rolled his eyes, grabbing a pair of aprons. “Come on, then, I guess; we’ve gotta open.”

“Wait, wait, just like that? You’re not even going to show me how any of this stuff works?”

“Do you not know how to put coffee in a cup?”

Roman huffed indignantly and glanced at the machines behind the counter, which looked way too complex for being fancy coffee-makers. He was admittedly apprehensive. “I’m just not… familiar with this equipment.”

Terrence sighed like Roman had just ruined his whole day. “Alright, just go on the register then. Do you at least know how those work?”

“Yes!” Roman was relieved to say, even if he was getting more annoyed by the second.

“Good. Go on, then.” Terrence tossed an apron at him and made a shooing motion.

…

Overall, it wasn’t as bad as Roman had started to fear it would be. Most of the people who came in in the early hours of that first day were too preoccupied with their cell phones or how tired they were to pay Roman any mind as he punched in their drink orders. Some of them were rather impatient, but Roman just chalked that up to pre-caffeination grumpiness. Perfectly understandable; he’d been the same way in high school.

Terrence—or maybe not actually Terrence, seeing as he switched his name tag to one that read ‘Enrique’ halfway through their shift—was the one actually putting together the drinks. Twice that day he got one small step of a very complicated drink order wrong, bemoaned his existence, and had to start over. One perk of this was that they couldn’t sell those drinks, so the two workers got to have them instead. Terrence or Enrique or whatever his real name was had given the first drink to Roman, claiming that decaf was “a mortal sin.” Roman wasn’t complaining, but he got the idea that his coworker’s second mistake, which happened only about ten minutes later, might not have actually been an accident. He looked rather pleased with himself, sipping his free cappuccino during a brief respite from the crowd of coffee-seekers at the counter.

Two hours before their shift ended, Roman had gotten to meet the manager, who luckily arrived during another lull in customers. He hadn’t realized who the man was at first: he just wore a flower print t-shirt and jeans, not a uniform, and he didn’t wear a name tag. Roman was understandably confused, therefore, when he had strolled right up to the register, waited for the woman currently paying to leave, and then smiled at the bewildered barista like they were old friends.

“You must be Roman!” he said, grinning.

“Um… yes?” Roman replied awkwardly, a little alarmed at this stranger knowing his name. He knew he was wearing a name tag, but this guy had never looked at it.

“Oh—right, sorry, I’m Thomas, the manager.” Thomas turned to grin at the other barista, who offered him a peace sign and a duck of the head as he worked on putting together some kind of elaborate frappe. He looked almost shy. Roman wondered if it was just for show.

“Oh, oh, of course,” Roman quickly said as the manager turned back towards him. “He—uh,” Roman still didn’t know his coworker’s name— “He mentioned that you would be coming. Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting….”

“Me?” Thomas asked. Roman was briefly mortified at his own phrasing, but Thomas was smiling, looking amused. “That’s alright. I actually have today off! Just thought I’d stop by to check in. How is everything so far?”

“It’s…” _Don’t overact, Roman._ “It’s fine.” He’d almost said something more grandiose, before he remembered the awkward moment at the dinner with Val a week before when he’d made himself look like a fool doing much the same thing, acting like a teenager in his first high school play. He didn’t need to repeat that.

“Well, that’s good, I suppose. Getting along all right with our thundercloud over there?”

“ _Thomas,”_ said thundercloud whined from where he was handing a bored teenager their drink.

“Yeah, he’s alright,” Roman said. He wished the guy would talk to him more, and not act like Roman would be gone within the week; but it could have been worse. Plus, he wasn’t exactly about to bad-mouth his coworker on the first day. Roman wasn’t an idiot.

“Oh, that’s good!” Thomas glanced over his shoulder as the bell over the door chimed, a group of people all making their way into the café. “Well, I should let you two go. Nice to meet you, Roman.” He then reached forward and shook Roman’s hand, waved to the other barista, and left the shop, greeting the new customers along the way.

...

“Is it always that busy?” Roman asked, hanging up his apron in the back at the end of their shift. Their replacements, a pair of high schoolers, were already at work at the counter. It wasn’t nearly as busy now, being the afternoon, but a few people were in the café studying.

“Hm?” his coworker asked, clearly not having expected Roman to talk to him. “Um… Yeah, I guess,” he begrudgingly admitted, scratching at some stubble on his chin with chipped silver-painted nails. “On weekdays, at least. Monday mornings are the worst, though.”

Well, that was a relief. That meant that the hardest day of the week was already over with.

“See you tomorrow?” Roman asked. His coworker was already halfway out the door.

“Yeah, whatever, Princey.”

“Princey?”

The other young man paused, glancing back. “You look like a Princey. Deal with it.”

Well, okay. Apparently Roman was Princey now. He was still a bit bewildered, but he decided not to fight it. There were worse nicknames.

As Roman walked home that afternoon, he couldn’t help but think about his new coworker. He was… something else, it seemed. Roman would have to figure him out, like putting together a complicated puzzle. Perhaps he wasn’t as freakishly good at those as Logan, but he’d make friends with the guy—he was determined to, if for no other reason than to make sure working at the café didn’t turn into a nightmare.

The first step, he supposed, was to find out his name.

…

When Roman got home, Patton was waiting for him, jumping up and down just past the doorway.

“Oh—Patton, how long have you been standing here?” he asked, bewildered, as Patton all but tackle-hugged him.

“Not long,” Patton assured, his voice muffled. He pulled back and smiled. “How did it go? Did you have fun?”

Roman let out a breathy laugh. “Yeah, Patton, it was alright. I didn’t spill any coffee on myself, so I’d call that a win.”

“What about the person you work with? Are they nice?

“Uh….” Roman made a high-pitched, not-exactly-a-yes sort of sound. “He’s… something. I don’t know him that well yet, I guess. He might’ve been having a bad day.”

“Oh,” Patton said, his expression falling slightly.

“I did meet the manager, though. He stopped by to say hi. He’s basically a human ray of sunshine.”

Patton’s grin returned. “Well, that’s good!” He stepped back. “Want to go sit down? I can make you a snack.”

“Yes, please,” Roman sighed. He’d been on his feet since five-thirty in the morning, after all.

They walked into the kitchen, Patton continuing to ask eager questions about Roman’s new job.

…

That evening, Roman, Patton and Logan were sitting together in the living room. Valerie wasn’t home yet, out with friends somewhere. Logan was reading while Patton colored in a coloring book. Roman was theoretically watching the television, but really he was just sitting there, listening to the scratch of Patton’s colored pencils and the occasional, almost rhythmic turn of pages in Logan’s book. He was thinking, debating with himself.

Finally, he cleared his throat. Patton’s colored pencils paused and Logan glanced up at him before he turned the page in his book.

“Hey, guys…” Roman started awkwardly. As Patton and Logan both turned to watch him, Roman felt as if a spotlight had been suddenly shone upon him. “So, I’ve been thinking, and… you two have been really, so incredibly kind to me. And I’m—I’m so grateful for that. But… it really isn’t fair of me _not_ to tell you… why I was homeless. You deserve to know. So, um, if you guys still want to know, I’m ready to tell you.”

The two men’s reactions to this offer were quite different from each other. Logan simply regarded him with an unreadable expression, fitting a bookmark into his book and closing it. Patton, meanwhile, quickly set his coloring book and pencils to the side. “Oh, Roman, you don’t have to do that; I wasn’t trying to push you.”

“No—it’s okay. You guys deserve to know. Is—is now an okay time?” He sure hoped it was. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to summon the courage again.

Patton’s eyes were soft as he nodded. Logan’s expectant look was enough of an answer from him.

So, Roman took a deep breath, in and out, to ready himself. And he told them.


End file.
